Donald Trump has snapped up more than $155 million in bonds since taking office

US President Donald Trump has been on a multimillion-dollar bond-buying spree since taking office in January, investing in debt issued by local authorities, gas districts and major American corporations.

Across 33 pages of filings with the US Office of Government Ethics, or OGE, dated Aug 12, the president outlined 690 transactions that have taken place since he took office. The documents were made public on Tuesday.

According to CNBC calculations, the purchases had a total value of at least $100 million ($A155 million), assuming the lower value end listed for each disclosed transaction.

By law, the US president, vice president and other select officials must periodically declare “reportable transactions” to the OGE. The precise value of these dealings does not have to be reported.

The extensive lists filed earlier this month show that, over the course of this year, Mr Trump has bought bonds sold by various entities, including local US governments, as well as gas districts, water supply districts, hospital authorities and school boards.

Mr Trump also bought debt issued by an array of big-name companies. The documents point to purchases of between $500,000 and $1,000,000 worth of bonds issued by T-Mobile US, United Health and Home Depot, each in early February. Later that month, he procured debt issued by Facebook and Instagram parent Meta, worth between $250,000 and $500,000.

The White House did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.

Companies, governments and other groups issue bonds to raise capital to carry out projects, fuel growth, refinance existing debt or to bolster financial stability. Investors who purchase the bonds receive interest payments — either fixed or variable — over an agreed period, along with the return of the full loan amount at the end of that period.

Some of the companies whose debt is now owned by Mr Trump have been directly impacted by his policies or business dealings.

The White House leader has a net worth of $5.5 billion, according to Forbes. In 2020 — the last year of his first presidential term — Mr Trump was worth $2.1 billion, according to the magazine. Forbes has labelled the years between his two terms “the most lucrative post-presidency in American history” thanks to a series of ventures marketed to his supporters.

Mr Trump’s political rivals have previously accused him of various conflicts of interest during his tenure as president.

Under federal law, the president and vice president are exempt from some regulations relating to conflicts of interest among federal officials.

But according to the nonprofit watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington every modern president prior to Mr Trump has opted to divest their business interests before taking office.